Escape charge dropped against bank robber who fled U.S. jail

Recaptured fugitive still faces a sentence of up to 80 years

January 04, 2013

Convicted bank robber Joseph “Jose” Banks was recaptured several days after his daring escape last month from a high-rise jail in the Loop. (FBI photo)

In a surprise move Thursday, federal prosecutors dropped an escape charge against Joseph "Jose" Banks, a convicted bank robber who made a daring escape last month from a high-rise Loop jail by rappelling down some 15 stories with a rope fashioned from bedsheets, only to be captured days later on the North Side.

In dropping the charge, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Baker noted that even before Banks' break for freedom from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, he faced up to 80 years in prison for his conviction the previous week for holding up two banks and trying to rob two others. A conviction on the escape charge, by comparison, would carry a maximum of five additional years in prison for Banks, 37.

Prosecutors can cite the escape as an aggravating factor at his sentencing for the bank holdups in a bid to obtain the stiffest sentence possible. And by dropping the escape charge, prosecutors avoid another trial for Banks, who caused repeated interruptions at his bank robbery trial by refusing to recognize the rules of the court.

Also on Thursday, the FBI said it believes that Kenneth Conley, the inmate who joined Banks in the Dec. 18 escape and remains at large, has fled the Chicago area.

"The fact that we haven't gotten any information locally or any sightings leads us to believe he has left the area," said FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde.